Prediction Error
- muttsandmischief
- 5 days ago
- 1 min read
Behaviour Makes More Sense š§ š¾
Prediction Error
Sometimes, learning happens because something doesnāt happen the way the brain expected.
Thatās prediction error.
A dog anticipates one outcome based on their previous experiences ā but something different happens instead. That little mismatch between āwhat I thought would happenā and āwhat actually happenedā can provide incredibly important information to the brain.
And this is one of the reasons simply repeating an experience isnāt necessarily enough to change how a dog feels about it.
If every encounter confirms the dogās existing prediction ā dogs are scary, hands near me are worrying, this place isnāt safe ā thereās very little reason for that prediction to change.
But carefully creating experiences where the outcome is safer, gentler or more manageable than expected can begin to provide new information.
Not through flooding.
Not through forcing them to āface their fears.ā
And not by expecting one positive experience to undo a history of difficult ones.
Through small, repeated experiences that allow the brain to discover:
Maybe what I predicted isnāt always what happens.
Because when we understand how learning actually works, behaviour makes more sense. š©µš¾
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